CCMusic.com

Irving Berlin was one of the first and one of the most prolific of tunesmiths who wrote for the Broadway stage and for Hollywood musicals. Furthermore, like Cole Porter but unlike the majority of tunesmiths who worked with lyricists, Berlin wrote both tunes and lyrics. Here we have 19 of his most popular tunes in instrumentals arranged for brass bands. The band in question is the Chestnut Brass Company, founded in Philadelphia in 1977. Most of the tunes are up-tempo, but there are also some more wistful tracks like 'When I lost you', 'What'll I do?' and 'They say it's wonderful'. No Berlin collection would be complete of course without 'White Christmas', which sounds surprisingly poignant in this mellow brass arrangement.